BACKGROUND We sought to determine the leading causes of cardiovascular (CV) hospitalization, and to describe and compare national rates of CV hospitalization by age, gender, race, ethnicity, region, and year, among U.S. veterans. METHODS We evaluated the electronic health records of all veterans aged ≥18 years who had accessed any healthcare services at either a VA healthcare facility or a no...

We studied argyrophilic proteins associated with nucleolar organizer regions (AgNOR) in non-small-cell cancer. We determined the area index (AI) and coefficient of variation (CV) of AgNOR. AI is associated with the key clinicomorphological parameters within the TNM system: T and N values, greatest tumor dimension up to 3 cm and more, disease stage, histogenesis, and tumor differentiation. CV is...

Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) is being increasingly used to assess white matter integrity and it is therefore paramount to address the test-retest reliability of DTI measures. In this study we assessed inter- and intra-site reproducibility of two nominally identical 3T scanners at different sites in nine healthy controls using a DTI protocol representative of typical current "best practice" in...

Gene-dosage responses for a group of six wheat endosperm proteins have been investigated by using compensated nulli-tetrasomic lines of cv. Chinese Spring. Practically linear dosage responses have been observed for all the proteins. However, for two of the proteins (and probably for a third one), the net output of protein, at each dosage of its structural gene, was 30-80% higher when the chromo...

Proteins are used as prognostic and predictive biomarkers in breast cancer. However, the variability of protein expression within the same tumor is not well studied. The aim of this study was to assess intratumoral heterogeneity in protein expression levels by reverse-phase-protein-arrays (RPPA) (i) within primary breast cancers and (ii) between axillary lymph node metastases from the same pati...

Calf housing often only meets the basic needs of calves, but there is a growing interest in providing enrichments. This study described the behaviour of calves when they were given the opportunity to interact with two commonly available enrichment items. Female and male calves (approximately 11 days old) were pair-housed in 8 identical pens fitted with an automated brush and a hanging rope. Fre...

BACKGROUND Numerous events may occur during a haemodialysis session, leading to variation in the quantity of dialysis received. The purpose of this study was to identify risk factors for variability in haemodialysis delivery. METHODS Variability in dialysis delivery was expressed by the coefficient of variation (CV%) and calculated for the volume of blood processed (VBP) for all treatments an...

The coefficient of variation (CV) of red cell size, as measured by electronic red cell sizing (erythrography), was less than 14.0% in 20 normal subjects. In 22 of 25 patients with beta-thalassemia minor and microcytosis (mean corpuscular volume [MCV] less than 70 fl), CV was less than 14.0%; in the other 3, CV was 14.0%--14.9%. In 53 patients with iron deficiency anemia and MCV less than 70 fl,...

Cardiovascular (CV) diseases are a serious concern in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), accounting for approximately one-third to one-half of all RA-related deaths. Besides the attempts to identify new risk factors, the proper management of traditional CV risk factors such as dyslipidemia should become a priority in the periodic evaluation of every RA patient. Atherogenic index has been suggested to b...

BACKGROUND Therapeutic drug monitoring of immunosuppressive drugs in organ-transplanted patients is crucial to prevent intoxication or transplant rejection due to inadequate dosage. The commonly used immunoassays have been gradually undergoing replacement by mass spectrometry, since this physical method offers both a higher sensitivity and specificity. However, a switch should be carefully cons...